Soft shelled egg

[Mcook512]

My almost 20 week old ISA Brown who has been laying for 2 1/2 weeks just laid a soft shelled egg. She has been laying about 6 eggs per week. She consistently lays around 7-730 am. This morning she was in the box, but no egg. I didn’t think anything if it with her being a new layer and she has laid 5 eggs this week. Tonight, when they went on the roost, she was acting weird and squatted in the roost and out popped a soft shelled egg. She has never laid a soft shelled egg, or laid an egg after 8am. Is this just a fluke thing? She is eating grower feed because I have 10 week old chicks as well, but I do have oyster shell out. Should I change to all flock? Or continue the grower with oyster shell?

 

[DobieLover]

Have you seen her eating the oyster shell?
It really isn't that uncommon for a newly laying pullet to drop a softie even after laying normal eggs.

 

[Mcook512]

Have you seen her eating the oyster shell?
It really isn't that uncommon for a newly laying pullet to drop a softie even after laying normal eggs.

I have not noticed her eating the oyster shell. My chickens free range and are out of the coop/run most of the day, only coming in occasionally to eat/drink.

 

[Lizzy733]

One of my sexlinks started laying softies and then no shell less than a month after starting. It turned out she had an internal infection - salpingitis. She was a bit too good at laying - we were getting double yolkers for a while. Not saying that's what your girl has, but keep an eye on her and support as necessary. Hopefully, her system is still just sorting things out.
If she ends up with a messy vent or seems uncomfortable, a good soak in a warm epsom salt bath can't hurt. My girl managed to clear the infection herself by the time I got her to a vet and hasn't had trouble since, but she no longer lays twins.

 

[Mcook512]

One of my sexlinks started laying softies and then no shell less than a month after starting. It turned out she had an internal infection - salpingitis. She was a bit too good at laying - we were getting double yolkers for a while. Not saying that's what your girl has, but keep an eye on her and support as necessary. Hopefully, her system is still just sorting things out.
If she ends up with a messy vent or seems uncomfortable, a good soak in a warm epsom salt bath can't hurt. My girl managed to clear the infection herself by the time I got her to a vet and hasn't had trouble since, but she no longer lays twins.

ISA browns are known for being egg laying machines. She has had 1 double yolker so far. I will keep an eye on her. It was just so weird for her to lay an egg so late in the evening and while she was roosting for the night.

 

[Lizzy733]

ISA browns are known for being egg laying machines. She has had 1 double yolker so far. I will keep an eye on her. It was just so weird for her to lay an egg so late in the evening and while she was roosting for the night.

I had about a week of softies - my others were still coming into lay so I thought nothing of it... then the no shells came... then lash eggs. If she does end up with an infection, it's not contagious but depending on how she's coping, you may want to separate her and offer some electrolytes. I was giving mine a cocktail of crickets and garlic too. I'm in the city and had to book in with an exotic vet who couldn't see her for over a week. Luckily, she didn't end up on antibiotics... just calcium supplement and anti-inflams. She put a brittle shell on same day as her vet visit and was on the mend.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

6 months is the RULE of thumb for Chicken egg laying (beginning of process).
That's a 24 week average.
20 weeks (yours) is young for an egg layer. Her machine is not finely tuned.
If they don't get hard by 24 weeks, there is not enough calcium supplement in her diet.

 

[aart]

It was just so weird for her to lay an egg so late in the evening and while she was roosting for the night.

Not really. Softies are hard to move down the pike, bird can act really weird at that time...and they often emerge in places other than a nest.
Toss a pinch of OS on top of the feed....or scattered with some scratch grains on the ground. New layer often don't 'get' the OS dish/feeder right away.

 

[orrpeople]

Also check protein content in your feed/treats. High production birds especially, will have issues with a higher protein diet. 16% for them - and no meal worms, scrambled egg, or other protein rich treats. (Free range birds also pick up quite a bit of protein while they're out and about, depending upon their "range". )

 

[Mcook512]

No egg Monday, but she must have laid one while on the roost last night. When I let them out this morning, there was a busted egg on the floor of the coop. It was a hard shelled egg, but pretty thin. Now my question is...how can I help her get back on her morning egg laying schedule? Apparently she doesn’t mind just popping an egg out while on the roost.